Troxdale v. State

• Decision Date: 31 December 1848
• Citation: Troxdale v. State, 28 Tenn. 411 (Tenn. 1848)
• Parties: TROXDALE et al. v. THE STATE.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

28 Tenn. 411

TROXDALE et al.

v.THE STATE.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

December Term, 1848.

Patsy Troxdale, Nicholas Stephens, and William Upton were indicted for the murder of Edward Oneal and Sarah Oneal, his wife, and their five children, on the 15th day of September, 1846. The persons murdered were the father, mother, brothers and sisters of the defendant Patsy Troxdale. The murder is charged in the indictment to have been committed with an axe.

The defendants pleaded jointly not guilty, and a jury was empanelled by the presiding judge (Marchbanks) to try them jointly, and the proof was submitted accordingly.

It appeared that Edward Oneal was the owner of a small tract of land of little value, at the foot of Cumberland mountain, in the county of Overton; that he was poor, ignorant, about forty years of age, and a day laborer. He was addicted to occasional intoxication, and then was irritable and violent. He had a wife, Sarah, and six children--Patsy Troxdale and five others, all younger than Patsy. Jackson was a lad of twelve, and the balance younger and smaller. Patsy was about twenty years of age, robust in her person, lewd in her habits, and sometimes carried deadly weapons. His house was a cabin built of round, small logs, and old enough to be very dry, with a floor made of puncheons, with a cellar under it two feet and a half wide, and between five and six feet long. At a short distance from it was a shed, under which the cooking of the family was done, and at the distance of about 240 yards stood what was called the fodderhouse. On this place Oneal, his wife, his daughter Patsy, and his five other children resided in the month of September, 1846, the time of the commission of the murder with which the defendants were charged. For a portion of the week, during which the murder was committed, Oneal had been engaged by one of his neighbors to cut timber for boards some three or four miles from his residence. On Friday evening he left the forest to go home. He promised to return on Saturday morning, but did not do so. This promise to return was excluded by the court. He also promised to go to another neighbor's on Saturday morning to engage in a similar work, but did not do so. He was not intoxicated on Friday evening when he left the forest, nor was there any liquor to be obtained on his way home. He was not seen by any witness after Friday evening. Stephens and Upton lived on Cumberland mountain, some seven or eight miles from Oneal's. They were poor, had families, and were addicted to lewdness. Their characters were, in other respects, unexceptionable. They left home on Friday, stating that they intended to see Oneal in relation to a horse-trade, about which there was some dissatisfaction. They stopped at a grocery some three and a half miles from the house of Oneal, and procured half a gallon of whiskey, a part of which they drank, and took the balance with them in a bottle or bottles to Oneal's. On Friday night Shepherd and Upton slept at the fodder-house--they said, with Patsy. Patsy's intrigues were known to her father. He had threatened to “thrash” her and she had threatened to take his life. He had given orders to her that she should not live on the place; that she must seek her a home by Monday (the Monday next succeeding the day on which he was murdered). Upton stated that he and Stephens went to Oneal's on Friday in reference to a horse-trade and that Oneal was not at home that he enquired where the balance of the family were, and was told that Patsy was out digging ginseng; that she afterwards came in, and they made an arrangement to stay at the fodder-house together; that they met there; and that Patsy and Stephens went to the house, backward and forward, during the night, to see whether all were asleep. Upton and Stephens left the fodderhouse just before day, and passed on through a thick settlement. They had whiskey in a bottle, had on white clothes; no blood was observed on them. They stated at one time that they slept out on the mountain; at another, that they had staid at old John Upton's; and, when it was ascertained that they slept at the fodder-house at Oneal's, Upton stated that he had made the other statements because he was afraid his wife would learn that he had been with Patsy Troxdale.

On Saturday evening an unusual smoke was seen rising from the place where Oneal's house stood.

On Sunday morning, early, the house was burned down. The ground-sills were, however, still burning. It looked as if the puncheons had been pulled over the cellar and burnt there. Patsy was there; she was asked where the rest of the family were. She said they are all in the cellar, burnt; that her father's and mother's heads were laying one way and the children's the other way; that she knew how they lay; the witness, however, could not tell how they did lay by looking at the smouldering ashes and coals. On Monday morning the coroner collected a jury, and the bodies were taken out of the cellar and placed on some boards. The heads and legs of the old people were burnt off. It was found the heads of the children underneath lay as Patsy had stated. There were no marks of violence to be seen on the portions of the bodies of those who were mutilated by burning. The heads of the two smallest children were to be seen. Their skulls had been broken with an axe. The blows were mortal. It was with difficulty that some of them were recognized. The witness stated that ““creepers,” “skippers,” “maggots,” were to be seen on the bodies; some of them were as long as a grain of wheat and some half an inch long. The largest were on the children. There was an axe found sticking in a stump near the house. It had blood ont it, and hair resembling that of the children. In the fodder-house were found various articles--a dress filled with old feathers, another filled with cotton and woollen thread; in the loft, a quilt; there was also a box found which contained a testament, in which was a deed to her father for the land on which he resided. In a topstack near the house was a spinning-wheel, and in the weeds there was found a bed-tick, which Patsy took off immediately when it was discovered. There was blood on her petticoat and chemise.

Patsy was arrested on Monday. She stated that Stephens and Upton were at her father's house on Friday; that they gave her father liquor; that she went off to a neighbor's, and on her return found her father drinking and mad; that he choked her mother; that she told him to quit; he cursed her, and gave her till Monday morning to get a home; that he threw her clothes out of doors, and her mother put them in the house; that her father repeatedly said he would kill them all, and burn them up; that her father ordered her to dig some potatoes, and carry them to Householder's and stay there all night; that she did so, and on her return on Monday morning she found the house burnt down, and her father, mother, brothers, and sisters dead in the cellar. She said she could not account for it, and knew no person at enmity with her father. She said, if she had to suffer, two others would have to suffer with her.

Christina Hensly, a witness for the state, stated that she was then in custody, and had been for some time in jail with Patsy Troxdale; that she knew nothing about the matter of the murder; that she had forgotten all she had known or said about it; that she had forgotten her own children; and, after threats used and much hesitation, she stated that Patsy had said to her in jail that her father, mother, brothers, and sisters were killed on Friday night; that “the boys Upton and Stephens were clear of it;” that she had burned the house on Saturday evening; that they were killed with an axe; that Patsy would sometimes tell her one tale, sometimes another. Half a dozen citizens testified that they would not believe Christina Hensly on her oath.

The judge charged the jury, in reference to the testimony of Christina Hensly, that a witness may be discredited by her statements, by her mode of delivering her testimony, and by witnesses declaring that they would not believe her on oath, from her general character; that it was the province of the jury to determine whether this witness had been discredited or not. He also stated to them that, if from any cause they thought her not entitled to credit, her testimony should be altogether disregarded; yet, if her testimony had been in so many material points corroborated by other reliable and credible testimony, either positive or circumstantial, as to awaken a conviction that her testimony was, independent of any belief reposed in her statements, true, then it would be competent to give her crdit.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty against all the defendants.

There was a motion made for a new trial, and in support of this motion there was read the affidavit of the coroner, which stated that in his testimony he had failed to state the explanation of defendant Troxdale in regard to the fact that the deed to her father for land had been found in her box, to wit, that she said that her father wished to sell it, and her mother had deposited it there to prevent him from selling it.

2. The affidavit of Troxdale stated that a juror, Shelton, had sworn that he had not formed or expressed an opinion as to her guilt or innocence, when he had both formed and expressed an opinion, and that he had got himself placed on the jury with the intent to convict the defendants.

3. The affidavits of Swallows and Belyew. The affidavit of Swallows states that, some months before the trial, Shelton declared to him that from the best information he could get the defendants ought all to be hung for the offense with which they were charged. The affidavit of Belyew states that Shelton declared some three or four months before the trial that the defendants ought to be punished, or would be punished, for the murder charged against them.

This motion being argued and...